Spectacular solar flares filmed by Nasa

Dramatic explosions on the surface of the sun have been filmed amid warnings
they could disrupt satellite communications on Earth later this week.

The blasts from the sun unleashed a firestorm of radiation on a level not witnessed since 2006.

Bill Murtagh, program coordinator at the Space Weather Prediction Center, described the solar flare that peaked at 0541 GMT as "dramatic" and the National Weather Service warned it could lead to moderate geomagnetic storm activity on Earth.

Nasa's solar dynamics observatory, which launched last year and provided the high-definition video of the event, described it as "visually spectacular".

"The large cloud of particles mushroomed up and fell back down looking as if it covered an area of almost half the solar surface," Nasa said in a statement.

However, the observatory noted that since the eruption was not pointed directly at Earth, the effects were expected to remain "fairly small".